Pages

Sunday, February 3, 2013

A few months ago, the highly acclaimed Asheville restaurant, Tupelo Honey Cafe, opened a new location in Knoxville.

Alexis and I stopped by for breakfast a while back. If I had to describe it in just a phrase it would be "Southern comfort food meets Appalachian hipster" (in a good way). It was difficult to choose from the enticing menu options but I choose the Chicken and Biscuits.

Some of the best fried chicken I've had in Knoxville.

Man oh man, was that was "shut your mouth" good. The crispy fried chicken breast on top of their signature scratch biscuits and a creamy milk gravy were phenomenal. But this isn't a review, just background for this morning's breakfast.

This morning, a cold, wet snow was falling and I had a serious craving for some Southern comfort food. I thought about that chicken and biscuits. I didn't have any fried chicken, so instead I went with sausage gravy and homemade biscuits.

The original recipe was supposed to yield 8 biscuits but the first time I made these, I cut them too thick and only got six. The result was biscuits that cooked up so tall, they topple and fall over. This was a happy accident because they were perfect for splitting in half for gravy biscuits! We've done it that way on purpose since then. Trevor calls them "tall boy biscuits".

Toss flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Add 7 Tbsp of the butter. Run the mixer on medium-low (3-4 on a Kitchenaid standmixer) until the butter is cut into pea sized pieces.

Add the milk and mix until the dough comes together and pulls from the side.

On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a 5" x 8" rectangle about 1" thick. Fold one third over the center, fold the other third over that and roll back out into another 5" x 8" rectangle. The Food Network recipe compares it to folding a letter but with the advent of email, that is almost an antiquated reference. Repeat 3-5 times.

Use a 2 1/2" biscuit cutter and cut out 4 to 6 circles that are 1" thick. You will have to regather the dough scraps and roll back out for the last 1 or two biscuits. Place biscuits on a parchment lined baking tray.

Melt the last Tbsp of butter and mix with the cream. Brush on top of the biscuits.

Bake the biscuits at 450f for 15-18 minutes until they are golden brown. They will expand and topple, don't worry.

For the Sausage Gravy

Brown the sausage in a wide pan, breaking it into small pieces as it cooks. Remove the cooked sausage to a plate with a slotted spoon, leaving the grease in the pan.

You need about 2 Tbsp of grease in the pan. Lean sausages may leave less than that, add some bacon fat or butter if needed. Whisk in the flour until it forms a light roux, about one minute.

Whisk in about 1/3 cup of the milk and whisk until the roux is blended with the milk (10-15 seconds). Repeat 2 more times until all the milk is incorporated into the gravy. Now you can whisk in all of the half and half, pepper, cayenne, and salt at once. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

As a follow up, I have the restaurants cookbook and their sausage gravy recipe uses 4oz sausage to 3 cups of liquid so yours has 4 times as much meat. There is no biscuit recipe in the book - they may use a mix or pre-made biscuits.

::::::sigh one of my favorite breakfasts, and it's been awhile since I've had biscuits and gravy. What I'd really like to "get right" is fried chicken, biscuits and gravy. Tried it once and was not impressed with what I did.

The main key here is to make your gravy just a bit thicker than you would for regular sausage gravy over biscuits. Then, you will be chilling the gravy in a gallon-size plastic bag in the freezer before filling the biscuits. sausage gravy